MOOSE RIVER BOW TRIP
When: Depart Boston 6 PM, Wednesday, August 29, 2007. Return to Boston 8 PM, Monday, September 3, 2007. Note: Because it’s Labor Day weekend, anyone with a normal 9-to-5 job will only have to take two days off work.
What: The Moose River Bow is a classic canoe trip in Maine’s north woods. The total distance is about 35 miles, of which two thirds are downstream river paddling—mostly flatwater but with four or five sections of Class I or Class II rapids. The remaining mileage is mostly lake paddling, with one portage of a little over a mile and another of a quarter mile to circumvent a waterfall.
What makes the Moose River Bow special is that, unlike almost any other river trip, it forms a loop—you start and end at the same point. This is made possible by means of the big portage—you gain enough elevation in that mile that the rest of the trip is downstream—and by the fact that the river itself doesn’t run straight but winds around in something like a big curve (the “Bow†of the “Moose River Bowâ€).
The trip lies mostly within public reserve land which is managed by the state as a natural and recreational resource. Think moose, loons, lots of piney woods, and almost no roads. There are designated primitive camping sites liberally scattered along the whole route—absolutely free, no permits needed (except fire permits if we want to have campfires).
Who: To come along on the trip you simply need to be reasonably fit and unwhiny, willing to put up with several hours of paddling each day, camping in uncertain weather, and lugging canoes and gear over the portages. I’ve done the trip once before, with one other adult and four teenagers of both sexes, three of whom had never done any whitewater canoeing. Anywhere from four to eight people would be an ideal number for the trip.
You don’t need to have any very specialized gear for this trip. We’ll need one canoe for each two people, with paddles and life jackets. If need be we can rent these in Jackman, the town where the trip begins and ends. We’ll bring tents, sleeping bags, pads, camping stoves, raingear, cameras, watercolor sets (Terry?), and of course food and a moderate amount of booze.
FAQs:
How much will this all cost? The only costs will be gas for the drive and (if necessary) canoe rentals. Camping is free. Food is something you would be paying for anyway.
I’ve canoed a little bit on ponds, and once I spent a day paddling down the Saco. But I’ve never done any whitewater canoeing. Is it scary? Is it dangerous? It’s exciting, that’s for sure. The rapids we’re going to encounter are relatively non-threatening ones. You’re very unlikely to drown in them, though it is possible that you might bang up the canoe on a rock and wind up in the water. When we get to the more difficult parts, we can pull over to the side of the river to size them up. If they look OK, we can simply run them. If we’re worried about capsizing the canoes, we can remove our gear at the top of the rapids, carry it down to the bottom of the rapids, then walk back up and run the rapids with empty boats. If we’re very nervous, we can portage the boats around the more dangerous rapids, as we’ll do also for the one big waterfall. But most of the river is smoothly flowing flatwater.
What if I get two days into the trip and decide I don’t want to go on? Can we turn around and go back? No. We’ll be on the river and heading downstream. Turning around won’t be an option, and there are no towns or public roads in the area to allow us to abandon the trip partway through.
What are likely to be the most unpleasant aspects of the trip? I want to know what I’m getting myself in for. It may rain. You may be soaking wet for several days on end. Portaging is not much fun. Gusty winds on the lakes may make it hard to paddle, and may raise surprisingly large waves. Your tent companions are likely to snore. They may also smell funny after several days in the wilderness. Also, it will take five hours of driving to get to the beginning of the trip, and another five hours to get home afterwards. On top of all that, there’s no guarantee that we’ll see a moose.
That doesn’t sound like much fun. Do you really think it will be worthwhile? Yes. A few reasons: The cry of a loon; the smell of balsam fir; the (possible) sight of a moose as we come around a bend in the river; the sight (at night, when you wake up and stumble outside the tent to go pee) of eighty-five billion stars shining through air so pure it might as well not be there at all; the feeling in the pit of your stomach when your canoe shoots over the nickpoint and tips down into a rapid; the taste of macaroni and cheese washed down with brandy around a campfire after a hard day’s paddle.